JPH06178776A - Ultrasonic diagnostic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To precisely know the life of a probe, to use the probe with ensured performance and to prevent breakage of a device by providing a means for measuring the cumulative rotational frequency of an ultrasonic vibrator or an acoustic mirror and displaying the measurement result by a display means. CONSTITUTION:In a fine diameter probe part 21, an ultrasonic vibrator 1 is disposed in the interior of the tip of a catheter and an acoustic mirror 4 is disposed opposite to the vibrator 1. A signal synchronized with the rotational frequency of the vibrator 1 is set from a motor driving circuit 15 inside a main body 19 to a rotational frequency cumulative device 14, thereby summing the rotational frequency from the start of inspection. The value is once stored in a frame memory 18, and then displayed with an image signal on a monitor 16. The total rotational frequency is stored in a memory in the rotational frequency cumulative device 14. A nonvolatile memory such as a floppy disk or the like is used as this memory. In the case of using the device again, the total stored rotational frequency of the probe is read out and preset on the counter of the rotational frequency cumulative device 14 and then cumulative calculation is started again.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a so-called ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying a tomographic image in the body by using ultrasonic waves, and particularly, to insert an ultrasonic probe into a thin luminal structure organ in a living body and raise the height. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that enables early diagnosis by obtaining an image having resolution.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A so-called ultrasonic diagnostic method, in which an ultrasonic pulse is radiated into a living body and biological information is obtained by reflected waves from each tissue, has an advantage that a soft tissue can be diagnosed without a contrast agent.

In recent years, ultrasonic diagnostic technology has facilitated the insertion of a micro-vibrator into the body in association with the increase in the frequency of electronic circuits and the progress in microfabrication technology for ultrasonic vibrators, and it has become easier to insert the micro-vibrator through the canteen wall or stomach wall. Diagnosis of all hearts and digestive tracts is gradually becoming popular in clinical settings. Furthermore, recently, an attempt has been made to insert an ultrasonic probe into a blood vessel and observe the cross section of the blood vessel.

FIG. 5 shows a generally known method, in which one ultrasonic transducer 1 is mounted inside the tip of a catheter (or tube) having a diameter of about 2 mm. A vibrator drive signal is sent from the main body to the vibrator 1 through the signal line 3 and the ground wire embedded in the tube wall 2,
The received signal is sent from the vibrator 1 to the transmitter / receiver circuit 7 on the main body side. In this method, the acoustic mirror 4 is arranged facing the vibrator 1 with an inclination of 45 degrees with respect to the vibrator surface. This mirror 4 is a rotating cable (torque cable)
The rotational movement of the motor 6 connected to the motor cable 5 and connected to the other end of the torque cable 5 is transmitted to the mirror 4 by the torque cable 5, and the mirror 4 rotates at high speed.

The ultrasonic wave radiated from the oscillator 1 is reflected by the mirror 4 and is radiated at 90 degrees to the rotation axis, that is, in the direction perpendicular to the catheter wall 2. On the other hand, also in the reception, similarly, only the ultrasonic waves from the direction perpendicular to the catheter wall 2 are received.

In addition to such a method, a method in which a micro-vibrator is attached to the torque cable 5 and directly rotated, and a method in which the mirror 4 and the vibrator 1 are integrally rotated are proposed. The mechanical rotation method like this is relatively simple in structure, and the high frequency (20 MHz)
It is the most popular method because it can easily realize (~ 40 MHz).

[0007]

In a system having a small-diameter ultrasonic probe for performing ultrasonic scanning by mechanically rotating an oscillator in such a thin tube, conventional scanning from the body surface is required. Its life is shorter than that of the ultrasonic probe used. For this reason, it becomes necessary to accurately grasp the history of a predetermined ultrasonic probe. In other words, it is necessary to clearly indicate to doctors and inspectors how much the thinning probe used for diagnosis has been used by that time and how many times it can be used before the guaranteed period. The present invention, which is required, has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and an object thereof is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of accurately notifying the operator of the life of a probe. It is in.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is to mount an ultrasonic transducer in a probe and dispose the ultrasonic transducer at a predetermined angle with respect to the ultrasonic transducer or this ultrasonic transducer surface. In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that rotates an installed acoustic mirror to transmit and receive ultrasonic waves, a means for measuring the cumulative number of revolutions of the ultrasonic transducer or the acoustic mirror, and a display means for displaying the measurement result by the means, Is characterized by having.

[0009]

[Function] By knowing the total number of revolutions or the total number of revolutions of the ultrasonic probe in use with respect to the guaranteed number of revolutions, doctors can prepare a new probe in advance, and the device and probe are always available. It is possible to make a high-quality diagnosis by keeping the normal state.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the first embodiment. The entire system comprises a small-diameter probe section 21, a motor driver section 20, and a system body 19. In this embodiment, only the probe portion is regularly replaced, and the small diameter probe portion 21 has an ID number generator 9 for identifying each probe. In the small-diameter probe portion 21, one ultrasonic transducer 1 is mounted inside the tip of a catheter (or tube) having a diameter of about 2 mm. A vibrator drive signal is sent from the pulsar 11 built in the motor driver unit 20 to the vibrator 1 through the signal line 3 embedded in the tube wall 2 and the ground wire, and the received signal is received from the vibrator 1 through the signal line 3. Is sent to the preamplifier 12 in the same motor driver unit 20 via the.

In this embodiment, the acoustic mirror 4 is arranged facing the vibrator 1 with an inclination of 45 degrees with respect to the vibrator surface. The mirror 4 is connected to a rotating cable (torque cable) 5, and the torque of the motor 6 in the motor driver unit 20 connected to the other end of the torque cable 5 is transmitted to the mirror 4 by the torque cable 5, 4 is rotated at a high speed of about 30 revolutions per second.

The ultrasonic wave radiated from the oscillator 1 is reflected by the mirror 4 and is radiated in the direction 90 ° with respect to the rotation axis, that is, in the direction perpendicular to the catheter wall 2. On the other hand, also in the reception, similarly, only the ultrasonic waves from the direction perpendicular to the catheter wall 2 are received. The reception signal once amplified by the preamplifier 12 in the motor driver 20 is sent via the cable 13 to the reception circuit 17 in the main body system 19 where gain adjustment, logarithmic amplification, and envelope detection are performed before A / Frame memory 1 after D conversion
Stored once in 8.

On the other hand, the rotation angle of the torque cable 5 which determines the direction of the ultrasonic beam is detected by the encoder 10 placed adjacent to the motor 6, and its value is stored in the frame memory 18 of the main system 19 as the received signal. Correspondingly stored. However, the position where the encoder 10 is installed is not limited to the motor driver unit 20, and if it can be arranged in the vicinity of the vibrator 1, the image deterioration caused by the uneven rotation of the vibrator 1 is corrected. It becomes possible. An ID number generator 9 is attached to the thin probe portion 21.
The generator 9 outputs a code unique to the probe. Generally, a binary code is incorporated, and for example, a 10-bit code gives about 1000
It is possible to identify each probe of the book. This ID signal remains in parallel or is converted into a serial signal and transferred to the rotation speed accumulator 14 in the main body system 19.

A signal synchronized with the rotation of the vibrator 1 is sent from the motor drive circuit 15 in the main body 19 to the rotational speed accumulator 1
4 and the number of rotations from the start of the inspection with the predetermined probe connected is integrated, and the value is temporarily stored in the frame memory 18 and then displayed on the monitor 16 together with the image signal. It When the inspection is completed, the total rotation speed at that time is stored in the memory in the rotation speed accumulator 14. Generally, diagnostic equipment is powered off when not in use. Therefore, this memory uses non-volatile memory such as floppy disk or hard disk,
To prevent the contents of the memory from being erased, it is necessary to provide a battery so that the rotation speed information can be stored for a long time.

Next, when the same probe is used again, the probe ID is first sent to the memory circuit in the revolution number accumulator 14 and the total number of revolutions of the predetermined probe which has been already stored is read to accumulate the revolution number. The counter of the container 14 is preset. After this state is completed, transmission of a drive pulse for rotating the motor 6 is started, and this drive pulse or a signal synchronized with this drive pulse is input to the rotation speed accumulator 14 to restart the accumulation calculation. This cumulative result may be displayed as a numerical value on a part of the TV monitor 16 together with the ultrasonic image, but the guaranteed rotation speed is stored in advance in the main body memory when the predetermined probe is first connected to the motor driver 20. It is possible to obtain the ratio of the total number of rotations to the guaranteed number of rotations, and in this case, the cumulative number of rotations can be more easily understood by displaying it on the monitor 16 as a pie chart or a bar graph. Further, when the predetermined ratio is exceeded, it can be displayed as a blinking alarm on the monitor 16, for example. Here, the rotation speed accumulator 14 will be further described.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram thereof. When a predetermined ultrasonic probe 21 is connected to the main body system 19 via the motor driver 20, first, a code unique to the probe is generated from the ID generator 9 in the probe 21. The data input to the address input terminal of the non-volatile memory 24 in 19 and already stored in the non-volatile memory 24 (that is, the total number of revolutions since the probe was first used) is preset in the first counter 22. To be done. Next, the operation of the motor drive circuit 15 is started, and a series of pulse signals necessary for rotating the motor 6 in the motor driver 20 are sent to the motor 6, and this pulse is the first pulse.
Directly to the counter 22 or once the frequency is divided in the second counter 23 and then supplied to the first counter 22 as a clock pulse.

On the other hand, the output of the first counter 22 is displayed on the monitor 16 via the frame memory 18.
Further, when the inspection is finished and the operation of the motor drive circuit 15 is stopped, the output data of the counter at that time is stored in the non-volatile memory 24 again. These series of operations can be easily realized by controlling by a CPU (not shown) provided in the main body.

In this embodiment, the case where only the probe 21 portion is replaced after being used for a predetermined time has been described. Therefore, the position of the ID generator 9 is set inside the small diameter probe 21, but the motor driver 20 and the probe portion 21 may not be separated. This is possible, and in this case, the motor driver unit 20 may have the ID generator 9 built therein. In any case, the ID data may be transferred to the main body system 19 from the part to be exchanged and used.

When used in excess of the guaranteed number of revolutions, not only the quality of diagnosis deteriorates, but also the probe may be damaged. In the worst case, It is also possible that the subject (patient) is harmed. Therefore, when the counter output shows a value that greatly exceeds the guaranteed rotation speed, it is desirable to perform control to stop the motor drive circuit 15. Although the display of the rotation speed has been described above, it is also possible to display the total rotation speed as the usage time.

A block diagram of the second embodiment is shown in FIG. The entire system comprises a small-diameter probe section 21, a motor driver section 20, and a system body 19. In this embodiment, only the probe section 21 is regularly replaced, and the thin-diameter probe section 21 has a counting circuit having a memory function for always storing the usage history (that is, the total number of revolutions) of each probe. It is a method.

A counting circuit 27 is provided in the small-diameter probe section 21.
Is built in. On the other hand, a pulse signal synchronized with the rotation of the motor is generated from the motor drive circuit 15 in the main body system 19, and the pulse signal is once counted down in the frequency divider 25 and then in the counting circuit 27 in the probe 21. Number of pulses (ie motor speed)
Are counted. In this counting circuit 27, the predetermined probe 2
The number of revolutions from the start of inspection with 1 connected is integrated, and the value is sent to the frame memory 18 on the main body side, where it is stored once and then combined with the image signal to obtain T
It is displayed on the V monitor 16.

When the inspection is completed, the signal from the motor driving circuit 15 is stopped and the output of the counting circuit 27 is held, while the probe 21 and the motor driver 20 or the motor driver 29 and the main body system 19 are held as necessary. Are separated. Even if the small-diameter probe 21 is disconnected from the main body system 19 after the inspection is completed, the hold value (total rotation time of the ultrasonic transducer) in the counting circuit 27 must be stored. For this reason, it is desirable that the memory 27 has a function of a non-volatile memory. However, as shown in the figure, the battery 26 in the small diameter probe 21 is built into the counter 27 so that the counter 27 can be continuously stored. it can.

Next, when the same probe is used again, first the input terminal of the counter 27 and the output terminal of the frequency divider 25 are connected. In the next step, the motor drive circuit 15 generates a signal, the rotation of the torque cable 5 is started, and at the same time, the signal from the motor drive circuit 15 is sent to the counter 27 via the frequency divider 25 to the counter 27. At 27, the cumulative calculation of the rotation speed is restarted. The cumulative result may be displayed as a numerical value on a part of the TV monitor 16 together with the ultrasonic image, but it is easier to understand if it is displayed as a circle graph or a bar graph as described above. Further, when the predetermined ratio is exceeded, it can be displayed as a blinking alarm on the monitor 16, for example.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the third embodiment.
In this embodiment, the main body system 19 is provided with the counting function,
Only the memory function is built in the probe 21. A pulse signal synchronized with the rotation of the motor 6 is generated from the motor drive circuit 15 in the main body system 19, and this signal is once counted down by the frequency divider 25 and then the counter 2
At 9, the number of pulses (that is, the number of rotations of the motor) is counted. In this counter 29, the number of rotations from the start of the inspection with the predetermined probe connected is integrated,
The value is sent to the frame memory 18, where it is once stored and then combined with the image signal and displayed on the TV monitor 16. When the inspection is completed, the signal from the motor drive circuit 15 is stopped, the output of the counter 29 is stored in the memory 28 in the probe 21, and then the probe 21 and the main body system 19 are separated as necessary.

Even if the small-diameter probe 21 is disconnected from the main body system 19 after the inspection is completed, the content of the memory 28 (total rotation time of the ultrasonic transducer) must be stored. Therefore, it is desirable that the memory 27 has a function of a non-volatile memory, but as shown in the figure, the battery 26 in the small diameter probe 21 can be built in and the memory 28 can be kept in a state where it can be stored continuously. .

Next, when the same probe 21 is used again, first, the output terminal of the memory 28 is connected to the preset terminal of the counter 29, and the stored contents of the memory 28 are preset in the counter 29. In the next step, the motor drive circuit 15 generates a signal, the rotation of the ultrasonic transducer 1 is started, and at the same time, the motor drive circuit 15 is started.
Is sent to the counter 29 through the frequency divider 25, and the counter 29 restarts the cumulative calculation of the number of revolutions.
This cumulative result is sequentially displayed on the TV monitor 16 together with the ultrasonic image.
Display as a numerical value in the upper part, or as a pie chart or bar chart. Further, when the predetermined ratio is exceeded, it can be displayed as a blinking alarm on the monitor 16, for example.

As a modification, it is also possible to display the cumulative rotation speed on the probe 21 side. In this case, since the display portion cannot be made large, for example, liquid crystal is provided on the surface of the probe case to display the total number of revolutions and the like. In this case as well, the battery 26 needs to be provided in the probe 21, but this display method allows the usage history to be known without connecting the probe 21 to the main body 19, and is effective when selecting a probe before diagnosis. Is. A series of operations in the present invention can be easily realized by controlling by a CPU (not shown) provided in the main body.

In each of the embodiments described above, the case where only the probe portion is replaced after being used for a predetermined time has been described. Therefore, the positions of the counting circuit and the memory are set in the small diameter probe, but the motor driver portion 20 and the probe portion 21 are separated. It is also possible to adopt a configuration that does not, and in this case, these may be incorporated in the motor driver unit 20. If it is used in excess of the guaranteed number of rotations, not only the quality of diagnosis will deteriorate, but it may also lead to a probe damage accident. It is also possible to harm (patient). Therefore, when the counter output shows a value that greatly exceeds the guaranteed rotation speed, it is desirable to perform control to stop the motor drive circuit 15.

The display of the rotation speed has been described above,
It is also possible to display the total number of rotations as the usage time.
In the embodiments of the present invention, the application to the mirror rotation type probe has been described as an example, but the present invention is also applicable to other methods such as a vibrator rotation type and a mirror vibrator integrated rotation type.
Further, the present invention is not limited to the small-diameter ultrasonic probe, and is effective for all probes having the rotating mechanism of the ultrasonic transducer.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the examiner can always use the ultrasonic probe having the guaranteed performance, not only it becomes possible to perform high-quality diagnostic treatment by using the ultrasonic image having high resolution, but also the device (probe) Various troubles due to destruction can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a rotation speed accumulator.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Ultrasonic transducer 4 Acoustic mirror 6 Motor 9
ID generator 14 Rotation speed accumulator 18 Frame memory 19 System body 20 Motor driver 21
Small diameter probe 24 Non-volatile memory 25 Frequency divider
27 counter 28 memory

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic transducer for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, wherein an ultrasonic transducer is mounted in a probe, and the ultrasonic transducer or an acoustic mirror arranged at a predetermined angle with respect to the surface of the ultrasonic transducer is rotated. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising: a unit that measures the cumulative number of rotations of the ultrasonic transducer or the acoustic mirror; and a display unit that displays the measurement result of the unit. 2. An ultrasonic transducer for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, wherein an ultrasonic transducer is mounted in a probe, and the ultrasonic transducer or an acoustic mirror arranged at a predetermined angle with respect to the surface of the ultrasonic transducer is rotated. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a unit that measures a cumulative rotation time of the ultrasonic transducer or the acoustic mirror; and a display unit that displays a measurement result of the unit.